Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre

The Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre is a museum located in the town of Waitomo in the North Island of New Zealand. The museum is also referred to as the Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre, the Waitomo Museum of Caves and the Waitomo Education Centre.[1]

Establishment

The museum is run by a charitable trust, and was established in 1973 by the local community. The museum was originally located in two rooms of the historic Waitomo Caves Hotel.[2] During its first five years of operation, the community raised money for a purpose-built location in the Waitomo Caves township and the building was opened on 17 October 1981 by Jim Bolger, MP for the King Country and Minister of Labour.

The land upon which the museum now stands belongs to the Tanetinorau Opataia Whānau Trust, to whom it was returned in 1988. The tupuna, Tane Tinorau,[3] lived on the land known as Taware prior to its being compulsorily acquired under Acts of Parliament.

In 1989, the museum buildings were doubled in size to increase exhibition space and add a 50-seat AV theatre and the new rooms were opened by David Bellamy. An Education Centre was added in 1994 and the museum has been contracted by the Ministry of Education to provide LEOTC (Learning Experience outside the Classroom) programmes since that year.[4]

Collection
Bat skeleton, Waitomo Caves Museum collection (Corin Walker Bain, 2020)

The Waitomo Caves Museum has a small, but significant, subfossil palaeofaunal collection (bones of extinct species), owing to the plentiful tomo (the dolines or sinkholes for which Wai-tomo is named) scattered throughout the surrounding karst landscape. It holds fossil remains and speleological specimens from local caves. The museum has a long association with eminent geological and palaeontological experts, such as Paul W. Williams and Trevor Worthy. Specimens from the museum collection are referenced in dozens of books and published journal articles.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Of particular note are the almost complete skeletal remains of the North Island goose or tarepo (Cnemiornis gracilis),[12] the North Island takahē (Porphyrio mantelli)[13][14] and various small vertebrates, including frogs, skinks, geckos and bats.[15][16]

In addition to faunal and geological material, the museum holds archival material relating to the history and occupation of the area, the development of adventure tourism and the history of cave exploration in Aotearoa New Zealand. It houses the NZ Speleological Society library, maps and archives from various caving clubs on their behalf.

References
  1. "Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre on NZ Museums". eHive. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  2. "Troglobites and squeezes". New Zealand Geographic. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  3. Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Tāne Tinorau". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  4. "ACKMA Australasian Cave & Karst Management Association Inc". www.ackma.org. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  5. H., Worthy, T. (1983). Moa and other subfossils : a glimpse of the prehistoric New Zealand fauna. Waitomo Caves Museum Society. ISBN 0-908683-00-6. OCLC 154219305.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Worthy, T. H. (1984). "Faunal and floral remains from Fl, a cave near Waitomo". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 14 (4): 367–377. doi:10.1080/03036758.1984.10421737. ISSN 0303-6758.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. Worthy, T. H. (1987). "Osteological observations on the larger species of the skink Cyclodina and the subfossil occurrence of these and the gecko Hoplodactylus duvaucelii in the North Island, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 14 (2): 219–229. doi:10.1080/03014223.1987.10422992. ISSN 0301-4223.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. Gill, BJ (2001). "Size and scope of the bird collections of New Zealand museums" (PDF). Notornis. 48: 108–110.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  9. Worthy, Trevor H.; Swabey, Stephen E.J. (2001). "Avifaunal changes revealed in Quaternary deposits near Waitomo Caves, North Island, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 32 (2): 293–325. doi:10.1080/03014223.2002.9517696. ISSN 0303-6758. S2CID 129444130.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  10. Broadley, R. A. (2012). "Notes on pupal behaviour, eclosion, mate attraction, copulation and predation of the New Zealand glowworm Arachnocampa luminosa (Skuse) (Diptera: Keroplatidae), at Waitomo". New Zealand Entomologist. 35 (1): 1–9. doi:10.1080/00779962.2012.649689. ISSN 0077-9962. S2CID 86160354.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  11. von Byern, Janek; Chandler, Peter; Merritt, David; Adlassnig, Wolfram; Stringer, Ian; Meyer-Rochow, Victor Benno; Kovalev, Alexander; Dorrer, Victoria; Dimartino, Simone; Marchetti-Deschmann, Martina; Gorb, Stanislav (2019). "Biomechanical properties of fishing lines of the glowworm Arachnocampa luminosa (Diptera; Keroplatidae)". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 3082. Bibcode:2019NatSR...9.3082V. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-39098-1. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 6395680. PMID 30816149.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  12. "North Island goose | New Zealand Birds Online". www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  13. "North Island takahe | New Zealand Birds Online". nzbirdsonline.org.nz. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  14. "North Island Takahe, Porphyrio mantelli.; 11653 on NZ Museums". eHive. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  15. Worthy, Trevor H. (1987). "Palaeoecological information concerning members of the frog genus Leiopelma : Leiopelmatidae in New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 17 (4): 409–420. doi:10.1080/03036758.1987.10426482. ISSN 0303-6758.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  16. Scarsbrook, Lachie (2021). Does Size Matter? Using Osteology and Ancient DNA to Reconstruct Extinct Diversity in Duvaucel's Gecko (Thesis thesis). University of Otago.

38°15′39″S 175°06′33″E

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